Method and means for a high power solar cell

ABSTRACT

In methods and apparatus for improving the power generated, and thus efficiency of solar cells, a double or triple junction tandem solar cell that has one or two photon filters of the invention in between the solar cell layers, respectively. The photon filter is arranged to reflect photons with wavelength shorter than λ x  and arranged to be transparent to photons of wavelength longer than λ x  by focussing the lower energy photons out of small area apertures on the other side of the photon filter and arranging the other side of the photon filter to reflect at least some of the photons of wavelength longer than λ x . By using the photon filters of the invention in between the solar cell layers, photons can be trapped between filters to solar cell layers at an energy at which the quantum efficiency of the solar cell layer is the best.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a new division of co-pending application Ser. No.12/791,188 filed on Jun. 1, 2010, which claims priority to EuropeanApplication No. 09162378.5 filed on Jun. 10, 2009. The entire contentsof each of the above-identified applications are hereby incorporated byreference.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention relates to methods and means for improving the powergenerated and efficiency of solar cells.

BACKGROUND

Photovoltaic solar cells are the most recently discovered new method ofproducing energy, dating from the 1950's Soviet and US satellite powersystems. Photovoltaic solar cells produce electricity with very lowenvironmental impact, and are because of this desired by the public. Theproblem with present photovoltaic solar cells is that they do notproduce enough energy for their cost and/or surface area to make themeconomically viable.

Therefore many technologies have been suggested to improve theefficiency of solar cells. EP 1724841 A1 describes a multilayer solarcell, wherein plural solar cell modules are incorporated and integrallylaminated, so that different sensitivity wavelength bands are so thatthe shorter the centre wavelength in the sensitivity wavelength band is,the more near the module is located to the incidental side of sunlight.This document is cited here as reference. It is currently not known,which are all the factors that cause a shortcoming in the efficiency ofthe multilayer solar cell. However, based on the studies of theapplicant, the general tandem solar cell is hampered the most by thephoton-phonon processes that take place outside the band of maximumquantum efficiency of the solar cell, i.e. this is where in frequencyspace the cell generates a lot of heat. Individual factors pertaining tothe disadvantages are also listed in the columns 1 and 2 of U.S. Pat.No. 6,689,949, which is cited here as reference.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,689,949 discloses a photovoltaic reflective cavity withseveral solar cells in the cavity. The solar cells inside the cavity areunder filters that filter the light so that the incoming photon flux ismore appropriate for the quantum efficiency of the solar cell, i.e. moreappropriate for its response or detector response.

NASA and JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) have also proposed analternative technique, called “Rainbow” where beam splitters andconcentrators are used to split the solar spectrum into different bandsand focus the different bands of light to different discrete solar cellsthat can handle the splitted and focused spectrum the best. This schemerequires a very complicated optical arrangement, and has notmaterialised to anything practical so far.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,100 discloses a tandem solar cell that has areflective film between the first and the second solar cell (incidentcell on sunlight side in this publication), where the reflective film issupposed to reflect high energy photons to the second solar cell and letlow energy photons to the first solar cell (behind the second solar cellin this publication). This document is cited here as reference. U.S.Pat. No. 5,021,100 has a serious problem in that the reflective film isa bidirectional, i.e. any reflected photons in the first solar cell willleak back to the second solar cell through the reflective film, andcause phonons and heat, as these photons cannot get absorbed in thesecond solar cell.

SUMMARY

The invention under study is directed towards a system and a method foreffectively solving the problems of the prior art and realising a morepowerful solar cell.

A more particular object of the invention is to present theaforementioned solar cell system, which has high capital cost in design,but ultimately a low production cost with large economies of scale. Inorder to achieve this, the invention introduces a tandem solar cellwhere each solar cell layer works with photons at energies where thatsolar cell layer has the highest quantum efficiency.

One aspect of the invention involves a solar cell with a photonreflector on the side opposite to the incident side of sunlight. Thereflector is arranged to reflect photons with wavelengths suitable tothe quantum efficiency function of the solar cell back to the solarcell.

In one aspect of the invention, there is a tandem solar cell with twosolar cell layers. There is a photon filter between the two solar cells.The solar cell that is incident to sunlight is exposed, and this solarcell layer typically has the band gap that is of the higher energy. Thesolar photons enter this first solar cell, and the higher energy part ofthe solar spectrum is likely to get converted to photocurrent. Some highenergy photons do not interact with the semiconductor, and just passthrough or get dissociated into photons and phonons of lesser energy bythe photon-phonon process. Those photons that are still of high enoughenergy to get converted to photocurrent in the first layer, i.e. wherethe energy of the photon (E) E>E_(bg1) is greater than the band gap(E_(bg1)) of first solar cell, are reflected back into the first solarcell layer by the photon filter. These photons will get a second chanceto get converted into photocurrent. Preferably the first solar celllayer is very thin and very pure, so that there is less time and spacefor non-absorbing processes, i.e. heat conversion by photons that do notmatch the band gap. The photons with energy E<E_(bg1) band gap are nowpassed through by the filter to the second solar cell layer that has alower band gap E_(bg2). A large portion of these photons can nowinteract with the second band gap. The photon filter will collect thelower energy photons and then focus the lower energy photons into thesecond solar cell layers through very small apertures on the other sideof the filter. These small apertures are permeable to photons. The restof the area on the other side of the photon filter is also covered witha reflector material. This is because on the bottom of the second solarcell layer there is also a reflector that reflects photons capable ofconverting into photocurrent in the second solar cell layer back to thesecond solar cell layer. Some photons that get reflected from thisreflector are still unabsorbed after having passed through the secondsolar cell layer the second time on their return journey. These photonsare sent back by the reflector material surrounding the small aperturesjust said. The reflectors on the opposite side of the sunlight incidentside of the photon filter and at the bottom of the tandem solar cellsystem trap the photons capable of producing photocurrent in the secondsolar cell layer, i.e. photons typically of E>E_(bg2). These photonsbounce back and forth until they get absorbed or dissociate into photonsof energy less than E_(bg2).

The entrapment of the photons into the second solar cell results fromthe first photon filter being unidirectional. I.e. apart from the verysmall possibility of leaked photons back through the small apertures,the majority of the photon population is bouncing between two reflectorsin a second solar cell that has a band gap favourable for photoelectricabsorption and current generation. The photon filter described aboverelies on a technique developed by the inventor, and named by theinventor, as spatiospectral modulation.

A unidirectional photon filter may also be realised in the above exampleby two reflective photon filters with an antireflective coating and/orcoarsening between them in accordance with the invention. Also, thematerials of the solar cells and photon filters may be selected so thatthe unidirectional filtration of photons is achieved based on therefractive indices of the materials in accordance with the invention.These photon filters in contrast suffer some losses in idealunidirectionality in the form of leaking photons from stray angles.

In one aspect of an inventive embodiment the tandem solar cell comprisesseveral solar cell layers, and in between two layers there is a photonfilter. The photon filters are tuned so, that they will trap only thosephotons that are at an energy where the solar cell layer is working at agood quantum efficiency (QE), ideally close to 1. The rest of thephotons are simply passed to the next layer by the photon filter. Therecan be indeed many layers that are preferably very thin, or otherwisedesigned so that there is minimal interaction between the solar cell andthe photon population at energies where the quantum efficiency is NOTthat good, i.e. far from unity.

By quantum efficiency we mean its general meaning as defined in LarousseDictionary of Science and Technology: quantum efficiency (Phys): “Numberof electrons released in a photocell per photon of incident radiation ofspecified wavelength”. Inventor further points out that this parametercan be normalised to yield the typical 100-0% scale when necessary. Thequantum efficiency is an extremely good measure of how good thephotocell is in converting photons into electricity. The detectorresponse or response is the quantum efficiency as a function ofwavelength, i.e. it tells how the photocell responds to incoming photonsat different energies.

In terms of the solar cell in this application high quantum efficiency(QE) is a QE that is higher than the QE's of other alternative solarcell layers at the same photon energy. In practical terms the band ofspectrum that might be worth holding onto in a particular solar celllayer is when the QE exceeds 10%, i.e. the overall QE of presentwholesale market solar cells. However, roughly 30-50% should be regardedas the threshold QE, if the tandem solar cell is going to economicallyreplace oil and gas in the current market conditions. Photons atenergies where the solar cell layer has a QE less than 30-50% should bemoved to other solar cell layers that have higher QEs, as will bedescribed later in the application. As for portable electronic devices,30-50% could similarly be regarded as a good QE, but this should dependon device requirements in accordance with the invention. For example, aNokia E71 mobile phone has an area of 72 cm² and a battery of 1.5 Ah,with a voltage of 3.7 V. If the inventive solar cell achieves anefficiency of 50% and covers the surface of the phone with an area of 72cm², assuming a solar flux of 1000 W/m² this will mean that the batterywill fully charge in approximately 1.5 hours of exposure according tothe calculations of the applicant. Quite clearly, 1.5 hours of exposureover the battery life of roughly a week is beginning to be at the reachof the market, if it provides the added benefit of not having to use anelectric grid charger most of the time.

Some or all of the aforementioned advantages of the invention areaccrued in one embodiment where there can be many, for example a hundredsolar cell layers of different band gaps separated by reflecting photonfilters as just described. Typically a semiconductor junction canmaintain high quantum efficiency only at a very narrow band. The furtherthe departure from the optimum energy, the smaller the QE gets. In oneembodiment of the invention there are a hundred solar cell layers thathave high QE's at bands that are 10-20 nm wide in the wavelength space.By using these cells it is possible to sample the entire solar spectrumfrom 150 nm (UV) to 1500 nm (IR) with semiconductor junctions thatoperate at very high quantum efficiency. The photon filters are set sothat the first solar cell layer will have photons of energy 150-160 nmin wavelength space, the second 160-170 nm, the third 170-190 nm, and soon. Naturally the first solar cell layer only needs to be efficient inthe 150 nm-160 nm band, which is easier to achieve. In addition, itshould disturb the photons with wavelengths longer than 160 nm asminimally as possible. These photons will pass to the layers that followwith each being trapped as explained above into their own 10-20 nm bandswith a solar cell layer that is at its best efficiency at that band.

A tandem solar cell in accordance with the invention is defined by thesubject matter claimed and comprises at least two layers of solar cells,the first and the second layer and is characterised in that,

-   -   a first photon filter is arranged in between the first solar        cell layer and the second solar cell layer,    -   the solar cell is arranged with the photon filter on the side        opposite to the incident side of sunlight,    -   the photon filter is arranged to reflect photons of certain        energy back into the first solar cell,    -   the photon filter is arranged to be transparent to photons of        other energies not arranged to be reflected, and these photons        are arranged to enter the second solar cell.

The above photon filter is also arranged to reflect back the returningphotons from the second solar cell, and prevent them from entering thefirst solar cell, thereby realising unidirectionality of the photonfilter in accordance with the invention. In some embodiments there is areflector at the bottom of the second solar cell to realise entrapmentof photons of suitable energy to the second solar cell layer.

A method of producing the aforementioned tandem solar cell is inaccordance with the invention.

A photon filter is arranged to reflect photons with wavelengths shorterthan λ_(x) from its first side and arranged to be transparent to photonsof wavelengths longer than λ_(x) by focussing the said longer wavelengthphotons out of small area apertures on the other side opposite to thefirst side of the photon filter and the other side of the photon filteris arranged to reflect at least some of the said photons of wavelengthlonger than λ_(x).

A tandem solar cell, comprises at least two solar cell layers ischaracterised in that the said tandem solar cell is arranged totransport an incoming photon to the solar cell layer that has thehighest quantum efficiency (QE) at the energy of the said incomingphoton in comparison to the other said solar cell layers in the tandemsolar cell.

A tandem solar cell in accordance with the invention comprises at leasttwo layers of solar cells, the first and the second layer and ischaracterised in that,

-   -   a first photon filter is arranged in between the first solar        cell layer and the second solar cell layer,    -   an antireflection coating layer is arranged between the first        photon filter and the second solar cell layer,    -   a second photon filter is arranged between the said        antireflection coating and the second solar cell layer.

A tandem solar cell in accordance with the invention comprises at leasttwo layers of solar cells, the first solar cell layer and the secondsolar cell layer and is characterised in that, at least oneunidirectional photon filter is arranged between the first and thesecond solar cell layers. “unidirectional photon filter” in the contextof this application means a photon filter which is arranged to reflect agroup of photons, and arranged to pass a group of photons through oneway, but also arranged to NOT allow passed photons to return back againthrough the said photon filter. While such an ideal photon filter isdifficult if not impossible to produce in real physical life, theinvention presents four unidirectional photon filters, thespatiospectrally modulating filter, the antireflective coating filter,the coarse antireflective filter and/or the refractive index filter.These filters are construed as unidirectional in this application, whileacknowledging the practical bounds of these filters filtering photonsunidirectionally.

A tandem solar cell in accordance with the invention comprises at leasttwo layers of solar cells, the first solar cell layer with a band gapenergy of E_(bg) and the second solar cell layer and is characterised inthat, the second solar cell has a lower refractive index than the firstsolar cell layer at photon energies equal or higher than E_(bg).

In the above tandem solar cell the second solar cell typically also hasa higher refractive index than the first solar cell layer at photonenergies lower than E_(bg) in accordance with the invention, and a bandgap lower than E_(bg).

A tandem solar cell in accordance with the invention comprises at leasttwo layers of solar cells, the first solar cell layer and the secondsolar cell layer and is characterised in that, at least one said solarcell layer is arranged to have its quantum efficiency (QE) vs.wavelength and its refractive index vs. wavelength functions to reachpeak and/or high values at same wavelengths.

A portable electronic device in accordance with the invention comprisesat least one solar cell and is characterised in that, said portableelectronic device features at least one piezoelectric crystal and/or atleast one mechanical means arranged to generate electricity frommechanical movement of said portable electronic device. The said solarcell is preferably a tandem solar cell, most preferably the tandem solarcell described in this application, but in some embodiments it may alsobe a conventional solar cell.

In addition and with reference to the aforementioned advantage accruingembodiments, the best mode of the invention at present is considered tobe a double or triple junction tandem solar cell that has one or twophoton filters of the invention in between the solar cell layers,respectively. This tandem solar cell is used to power a self chargingmobile phone, which may have a mechanical/kinetic electricity generatorsuch as piezoelectric crystals or a pendulum/spring system found in e.g.watches as a backup for charging at times when the mobile phone isconcealed from light, e.g. in the pocket of the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following the invention will be described in greater detail withreference to exemplary embodiments in accordance with the accompanyingdrawings, in which

FIG. 1 demonstrates an embodiment of the photon filter 10 as a blockdiagram.

FIG. 2 demonstrates an embodiment of an inventive tandem solar cell withtwo solar cell layers as a block diagram 20.

FIG. 2B demonstrates an embodiment of an inventive tandem solar cellwith two solar cell layers with alternative unidirectional photonfilters as a block diagram 21.

FIG. 2C demonstrates an embodiment of an inventive tandem solar cellwith two solar cell layers with alternative unidirectional photonfilters as a block diagram 22 and a focusing means on the sunlightincident side.

FIG. 2D demonstrates an embodiment of an inventive tandem solar cellwith two solar cell layers with alternative photon filtration realisedby the selection of refractive indices for solar cell materials, as ablock diagram 23.

FIG. 3 demonstrates an embodiment 30 of an inventive tandem solar cellwith four solar cell layers as a block diagram 30.

FIG. 4 demonstrates an embodiment 40 of the operation of the inventivetandem solar cell in terms of spectra, i.e. in the energy-wavelengthspace.

FIG. 5 demonstrates an embodiment 50 of the operation of the inventivetandem solar cell as a flow diagram.

Some of the embodiments are described in the dependent claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 demonstrates an exemplary embodiment of the photon filter 100 inisolation that is to be placed between two solar cell layers in a tandemsolar cell. The incident sunlight side is assumed up in this figure.Photons with λ₂ have higher energy than photons with λ₁ i.e. λ₂<λ₁ insome embodiments, but it is also possible that the filter 100 isconfigured in reverse, i.e. it reflects low E photons whilst lettinghigh E photons pass in accordance with the invention. The photon filter100 has a reflecting cover 110 on the sun incident side. The reflectingcover 110 may be a Rugate filter, or any other optical band pass filterin accordance with the invention. Underneath the reflecting cover are atleast one focusing means for the photons that are not reflected, i.e.the photons that pass through the reflecting cover 110. These focusingmeans that are typically lenses of any shape, can be and are showncircular in the figure, focus the photon population into a narrowinghorn 130. This horn may be covered with reflecting material from theinside so that the photons that pass through it are directed out of atleast one small aperture 140. In some embodiments there may be no horn,but still in these embodiments the photons are focused to a small spotwhen they exit the filter 100. On the opposite side to incident sunlightmost of the area is occupied by another photon reflector 150. The smallapertures are embedded into the reflector 150 and occupy only a fractionof the area of the other side of the photon filter 100. The reflector150 is designed to reflect back the photons that entered the solar cellunderneath from the at least one aperture 140, but did not interact withthe solar cell layer, and got instead reflected by another filter on theother side of the second solar cell layer. In some embodiments the ratioof the area of reflector 150 to apertures 140 is made as big as possiblein accordance with the invention. This is because the smaller the areaof the apertures is in comparison to reflector 150, the smaller theprobability for a reflecting photon to leak back to the first solar cell200, and thereby violate unidirectionality of the filter.

The effect of the spatial modulation that allows the reflection by thereflector 150 might be realised by other means besides focusing theentry into small apertures in some embodiments. For example aunidirectionally transparent filter could be used in some embodiments toreplace the focusing means 120 and apertures 140 in accordance with theinvention. In this embodiment it is important that the transparency isindeed unidirectional, the filter 100 must not let those photonsfiltered through to the next layer to return to the first layer 200 inaccordance with the invention.

The filter 100, 110, 150 can be any band pass, short pass, long passand/or notch filter, a Rugate filter and/or a discrete layer stackfilter in accordance with the invention.

While the solar cell layers can be only a few nanometers thick in someembodiments of the invention, it is also possible that the photon filteris very thin, just a few nanometers in thickness in accordance with theinvention.

In some embodiments at least one aperture 140 contains a diffracting ordispersing element that spreads the photons from the apertureseffectively into the second solar cell.

The at least one focusing means 120, horn 130, aperture 140, reflector110, and/or 150 can be made from any material in accordance with theinvention. Optical filter and/or reflector components 110, 130, 150and/or focusing elements 120, 121, 140, 141 can be made of any of thefollowing in accordance with the invention: reflective foil, such asmetal foil, ultraviolet/visible/infra red mirror such as aluminium orgold mirror or said mirror or mirror foil with opaque, vacuum-depositedmetallic coatings on low-expansion glass substrates,Aluminum/MgF2-mirror, Aluminum/SiO-mirror, Aluminum/dielectric-mirror,Protected Gold-mirror and/or normal mirror and/or any Rugate filtermaterial and/or dielectric stack material and/or any band pass, shortpass, long pass and/or notch filter. The choice of the reflective and/orfocusing material should be based on the reflectance-wavelength functionof the material amongst other practical things such as cost andavailability in some embodiments of the invention. In some embodimentsit is preferred for the reflection and/or focusing to be efficient up toFar-IR, or in any case to the wavelength that equates with the smallestband gap in the solar cell layers. The focusing structure can also bereplaced with a filter that is a: Rugate filter and/or dielectric stackfilter or a filter that combines the said two technologies to realise aunidirectional filter. This could be realised so that total internalreflection is practically always present at the outside face 150 forphotons that have passed through the filter preventing them fromreturning, because of the angle and energy distribution of the photonsafter the filter 100. However, when the photons are coming from theother side (110, i.e. those that were not reflected), these photons arealigned to penetrate through face 150 from the inside.

It should be noted that the embodiment 10 can be freely combined andpermuted with embodiments 20, 21, 30, 40 and 50 later in the text inaccordance with the invention.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D display embodiments of the invention where thetwo solar cell layers are combined with the photon filters of theinvention to realise an inventive tandem solar cell 20. The incidentsunlight is at the top of the figures as shown. The first solar celllayer 200 or any subsequent solar cell layer mentioned in thisapplication can be typically made of or may contain Si (Silicon),polycrystalline silicon, thin-film silicon, amorphous silicon, Ge(Germanium), GaAs (Gallium Arsenide), GaAlAs (Gallium AluminumArsenide), GaAlAs/GaAs, GaP (Gallium Phosphide), InGaAs (Indium GalliumArsenic), InP (Indium phosphide), InGaAs/InP, GaAsP (Gallium ArsenicPhosphide) GaAsP/GaP, CdS (Cadmium Sulphide), CIS (Copper IndiumDiselenide), CdTe (Cadmium Telluride), InGaP (Indium Gallium Phosphide)AlGaInP (Aluminium Gallium Indium Phosphide), InSb (Indium Antimonide),CIGS (Copper Indium/Gallium diselenide) and/or InGaN (Indium GalliumNitride) in accordance with the invention. Likewise the first solar celllayer 200 or any subsequent solar cell layer mentioned in thisapplication may feature any element or alloy combination, or anymaterial capable of photoelectric effect described in the publicationsFI20070264, FI20070743, FI20070801, EP 09154530.1, EP 1724 841 A1,Josuke Nakata, “Multilayer Solar Cell”, U.S. Pat. No. 6,320,117, JamesP. Campbell et al., “Transparent solar cell and method of fabrication”,Solar Electricity, Thomas Markvart, 2^(nd) Edition, ISBN 0-471-98852-9and “An unexpected discovery could yield a full spectrum solar cell,Paul Preuss, Research News, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, whichpublications are all incorporated into this application by reference inaccordance with the invention.

In the figures the incident photons hit the solar cell p-n junction andexcite electrons, thus resulting in photocurrent that can be used topower a load. The first photon filter 100 is arranged in between thesolar cell layers 200 and 201, and the solar cell 200 is arranged withthe photon filter 100 on the side opposite to the incident side ofsunlight. The photon filter 100 is arranged to reflect photons back intothe first solar cell 200 with energies that are at energies where thefirst solar cell 200 has high quantum efficiency (λ₂ photons). On theother hand the photon filter 100 is arranged to be transparent tophotons of other energies or wavelengths λ₁, and these photons arearranged to enter the second solar cell (201). The photon filter 100does not allow the λ₁ photons to return back to the first solar celllayer, thereby realising unidirectionality. Therefore the photons thathave an energy/wavelength λ₂ that could get converted to photocurrent infirst solar cell layer 200 are reflected back to the first solar celllayer 200 by e.g. the reflector 110, and those that can't are arrangedto be transported to another solar cell layer, such as second solar celllayer 201, where they remain entrapped if at energy higher than theenergy band gap of second solar cell layer 201.

In some embodiments the solar cell layers are very thin to minimise thescattering cross-section of unwanted photon interactions, i.e. thosethat happen at energies where the quantum efficiency of the solar celllayer is poor. These interactions heat up the solar cell. In someembodiments the sunlight incident side of solar cell 200 is covered by asemi-permeable film, or an anti-reflection coating 167 shown in FIG. 2B.In some embodiments there is a film on the sunlight incident side ofsolar cell 200 that only lets solar photons in, but does not allow themto get out. In some embodiments of the invention this antireflectioneffect is obtained by coarsening the Sun incident surface of the firstsolar cell 200.

In some embodiments of the invention incident sunlight is focused on asection of the first solar cell 200, and the resulting beam is arrangedto be dispersed by reflector 110 after it has passed through the firstsolar cell layer 200, i.e. the reflector might also have differentshapes in some embodiments of the invention. This is shown in moredetail in FIG. 2C, where the lens 190 focuses the photons to thedepletion region, and the reflector has a dispersing means 195 fordispersing photons into the depletion region and further onto reflectors180, 181. In this embodiment especially, some sections of the Sunincident surface of the first solar cell 200 are arranged with a photonreflector 180, 181 in accordance with the invention, especially thosesections that no longer have many incident photons on them, as theincident photons have been focused to other sections of the first solarcell 200. The reflectors 180, 181 are typically for the whole solarband, but can also be specifically designed for λ₂ photons.

The reflector filter 110 is typically a Rugate filter in someembodiments but can be any other band pass photon filter in accordancewith the invention. The filter 110 splits the photons into twopopulations: the reflected photons λ₂ and the photons passed through λ₁.In some embodiments of the invention there is a cut-offfrequency/wavelength/energy λ_(x) that splits the populations, in thecase of the first photon filter let us name the cut-off λ_(x100).

In FIG. 2A the second solar cell 201 is arranged with a photon filter onthe side opposite to the incident side of sunlight 111 and also on thesunlight incident side 150. The photon filter 100 is arranged to focusthe photons of other energies that did not get reflected by thereflector 110, and the said photons enter through small apertures 140from the photon filter 100 side opposite to the incident side ofsunlight. As these photons enter the second solar cell layer, they areagain subject to the aforementioned procedure, but with a different bandgap and cut-off wavelengths. The λ₁ photons are interacting with theband gap of second solar cell layer 201, i.e. at least those photonsthat do have the energy to do so.

It could be summarised that the photon filter of the invention conductsa spatiospectral modulation on the solar spectrum, i.e. it alters thephoton signal/population in the spatial (focus on small apertures) spaceas well as frequency space (filtering) in FIG. 2A.

In some embodiments the second solar cell 201 is arranged with a secondphoton filter 101 on the side opposite to the incident side of sunlight.The second photon filter 101 splits the λ₁ photon population into two.Let us name the cut-off wavelength here as λ_(x111). The second photonfilter 101 is arranged to reflect photons back into the second solarcell 201 with energies that are energies where the second solar cell 201has high quantum efficiency. These photons are marked with λ₄ in theFIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D. The first photon filter 100 is also arranged toreflect photons back into the second solar cell 201 with energies thatare energies where the second solar cell 201 has high quantumefficiency, with a photon reflector 150 that is on the side opposite tothe incident side of sunlight in the first photon filter 100 in someembodiments. These photons are marked with λ₅ in the FIG. 2A. In someembodiments the wavelengths are the same i.e. these photons are markedwith λ₄=λ₅, but they may also be different in accordance with theinvention in other embodiments. In some embodiments the photon filters100, 101 are arranged to entrap photons into the second solar cell thatare at energies where the second solar cell 201 has high quantumefficiency. The photons at these energies will be bouncing between thefilters 100, 101 until they get absorbed by the second solar cell layer201, or go through a photon-phonon process that allows them to escapeinto the photon population with energy/wavelength λ₃ and exit throughfilter 101. In other words, the second photon filter 101 is arranged tobe transparent to photons that are not at energies where the secondsolar cell 201 has a high quantum efficiency, and these said transparentphotons are arranged to enter a third solar cell 202 (not shown here),or exit the tandem solar cell system.

A method of producing the aforementioned solar cell is also inaccordance with the invention. In some embodiments of the invention atleast one of the solar cell layers and/or photon filters is produced,manufactured and/or grown by lithography, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE), Czochralski (CZ) siliconcrystal growth method, Edge-define film-fed growth (EFG) method,Float-zone silicon crystal growth method, Ingot growth method and/orLiquid phase epitaxy, (LPE). Any fabrication method described in thereferences FI20070264, An active solar cell and method of manufacture,FI20070743 Thermodynamically shielded solar cell, FI20070801 Method andmeans for designing a solar cell, EP 09154530.1 Low cost solar cell, EP1724 841 A1, Josuke Nakata, “Multilayer Solar Cell”, U.S. Pat. No.6,320,117, James P. Campbell et al., “Transparent solar cell and methodof fabrication”, Solar Electricity, Thomas Markvart, 2^(nd) Edition,ISBN 0-471-98852-9 and “An unexpected discovery could yield a fullspectrum solar cell, Paul Preuss, Research News, Lawrence BerkeleyNational Laboratory, U.S. Pat. No. 6,320,117, James P. Campbell et al.,“Transparent solar cell and method of fabrication”, U.S. Pat. No.6,689,949, Ugur Ortabasi, Concentrating photovoltaic cavity convertersfor extreme solar-to-electric conversion efficiencies, US 2008/0251112A1, David g. Jenkins, Concentrating photovoltaic kaleidoscope andmethod, can be applied to produce a solar cell in accordance with theinvention.

Optical filter components; reflector elements 110, 111, 130, 131, 150,151 and/or focusing elements 120, 121, 140, 141 can made of any of thefollowing in accordance with the invention: reflective foil, such asmetal foil, ultraviolet/visible/infra red mirror such as aluminium orgold mirror or said mirror or mirror foil with opaque, vacuum-depositedmetallic coatings on low-expansion glass substrates,Aluminum/MgF2-mirror, Aluminum/SiO-mirror, Aluminum/dielectric-mirror,Protected Gold-mirror and/or normal mirror and/or any Rugate filtermaterial and/or dielectric stack material and/or any band pass, shortpass, long pass and/or notch filter. The choice of the reflective and/orfocusing material should be based on the reflectance-wavelength functionof the material amongst other practical things such as cost andavailability in some embodiments of the invention. In some embodimentsit is preferred for the reflection and/or focusing to be efficient up toFar-IR, or in any case to the wavelength that equates with the smallestband gap in the solar cell layers.

It should be noted that the embodiment 20 can be freely combined andpermuted with embodiments 10, 21, 22, 23, 30, 40 and/or 50 earlier andlater in the text in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2B presents an alternative inventive photon filter arrangement fora tandem solar cell of the invention. Sunlight enters the first solarcell 200 of the tandem solar cell as explained before. The filter 110 ispreferably adjusted to reflect high energy and short wavelength λ₂photons back to the solar cell 200, and the first solar cell 200 istypically arranged with a high energy band gap and a response or quantumefficiency (QE) function that has a high efficiency at these higherenergies. The filter 100 is arranged to pass lower energy photons withlonger wavelengths λ₁ through. These λ₁ photons are arranged to enterthe second solar cell 201, which has a response and a band gap that hashigher quantum efficiency at the energies of these photons. However, thesecond solar cell 201 needs a photon filter 170 at the sunlight incidentside, and the λ₁ photons need to be arranged to pass through it toensure photon entrapment in second solar cell 201. To do theaforementioned, an antireflective coating 160 is arranged between thetwo filters 110 and 170. The filter 170 is arranged to reflect λ₁photons on the side incident to the second solar cell 201 back to thesecond solar cell 201, so these photons need to be carefully insertedthrough the filter 170 to the second solar cell 201, so that the filter170 does not reflect them back to the first solar cell 200, because λ₁photons are not wanted there, as they cannot convert to current inaccordance with the invention.

The antireflective coating 160 is typically a quarter wavelength layerwith the refraction index of √(n₁₁₀n₁₇₀), where n₁₁₀ is the refractiveindex of filter 110, and n₁₇₀ is the refractive index of filter 170. Assaid the antireflective coating typically has a thickness of (¼)*λ₁, orsimilar. It should be noted that as the optimum thickness varies as afunction of the wavelength, the optimum thickness for the antireflectivecoating may depart quite significantly from λ₁ in some embodiments ofthe invention, depending on the secondary photon spectrum that emergesthrough the photon filter 110.

In some embodiments of the invention the antireflective coating 160contains several layers of the aforementioned quarter wavelength layer,typically based on different wavelengths to increase the spectral rangeof the antireflective coating 160. In some embodiments of the inventionthe refractive index may deviate from √(n₁₁₀n₁₇₀), preferably toaccommodate other design requirements in accordance with the invention.The antireflective coating 160 is designed to achieve a smoothtransition of λ₁ photons into the second solar cell layer 201, and thefact that there is no antireflective coating between filter 170 and thesecond solar cell layer 201 is designed to prevent any photons now inthe second solar cell layer 201 from returning back through the filter170 towards the first solar cell layer 200.

In one embodiment of the invention, the refractive indices of thematerials are adjusted so that there is total internal reflectionbetween filter 170 and second solar cell layer 201. In this embodimentpreferably the filter 170 will have a low index of refraction, whereasthe second solar cell layer 201 should have a high index of refraction.This would be preferable in accordance with the invention and in view ofthe critical angle law θ=arcsin(n_(to)/n_(from)), where n_(to) is therefractive index of the destination material to which the photon isheaded to, and n_(from) is the refractive index of the material fromwhich the photon attempts to enter the destination material. So if thefilter 170 has a low index of refraction in comparison to second solarcell layer 201, →for a photon going from filter 170 to second solar celllayer 201 arcsin(high) →not defined, no total internal reflection, evenat grazing angles, the photons will pass through. Coming back however,arcsin(low)→total internal reflection will occur even for nearlyperpendicularly incident returning photons. In some specific interfacesthe refractive indices of the materials may be used to realise preferreddistribution of photons in accordance with the invention.

In fact, in some embodiments of the invention there is no need for theantireflective coating 160, when the refractive indices of the materialsare adjusted properly.

In fact, in one embodiment there is no filter between the two solar celllayers 200, 201, rather the refractive indices of the materials atcertain wavelengths are chosen so that photon entrapment results to theright solar cell layer at the right photon energy, and the interfacebetween the two solar cell layers 200, 201 realises the unidirectionalphoton filter of the invention. This embodiment is shown in FIG. 2D. Forexample in one embodiment the second solar cell 201 has a high relativerefractive index at energies below the energy band gap of the firstsolar cell 200, and a low relative refractive index at energies higherthan the energy band gap of the first solar cell 200. With this choiceof refractive indices, the high energy photons more suitable for theband gap of the first solar cell layer 200 get reflected at theinterface of the second solar cell 201 back into the first solar cell200.

Furthermore the lower energy photons more suitable for the band gap ofthe second solar cell 201 will now transmit through the interface. Evenfurther, the photons that were transmitted into the second solar cell201 are typically reflected back from a reflector at the bottom of thesecond solar cell 201. When these photons return back to the interface,the likelihood of total internal reflection is very high, because forthe returning reflected photon, the interface has a high relativen_(from) and a low relative n_(to). Consequently, the returning photonsare trapped into the second solar cell layer 201, unless they can passonto a further third solar cell layer or exit through a similarrefractive index interface or some of the other unidirectional filteroptions mentioned before. Furthermore, from this follows the disruptiveinvention that indeed in a tandem solar cell the refractive indexwavelength function of a solar cell material should peak in theproximity of the band gap of the said solar cell material, and even morepreferably have a low refractive index at energies far away from itsband gap. Consequently a solar cell layer in a tandem solar cell shouldhave a QE (quantum efficiency) vs. wavelength function that peaks withthe refractive index vs. wavelength function, i.e. the high refractiveindex would ideally be associated with a high QE in a solar cell layerof the tandem solar cell of the invention.

Quite clearly it is in accordance with the invention to have more thanone photon filters that are realised by choosing the refractive indicesof the solar cell layer materials as explained above. For example atandem solar cell with four solar cell layers may have two interfacesthat are realised by choosing individual solar cell layers withappropriate refractive indices, and one interface that has some of themore elaborate unidirectional photon filter arrangement, such asspatiospectral modulation, antireflective coating and/or coarsenedinterface as explained before. It is of course also in accordance withthe invention to have a single filter layer between the solar celllayers, as is shown in FIG. 2C.

The λ₁ photons then enter the second solar cell 201 through the filter170 and λ₄ photons are arranged to be entrapped into the second solarcell 201, whereas λ₃ photons are arranged to pass through the filter 111and out of the second solar cell 201. In consistency with what has beensaid before, the second solar cell 201 is typically arranged to havehigh quantum efficiency at energies of photons λ₄, which are typicallythe high energy photons of the photon population λ₁. Typically inaccordance with the invention, the photons μ₃ have a lower energy andlonger wavelength at which wavelength the second solar cell 201 is nolonger efficient. λ₃ photons are therefore arranged to exit the secondsolar cell, and possibly enter a third solar cell (not shown), or simplyexit the tandem solar cell. λ₃ photons typically transmit through thefilter 111 in accordance with the invention and reach an antireflectiveinterface 165, because the λ₃ photons are not wanted in the second solarcell as explained before.

In this particular case the antireflective interface 165 has beenachieved by coarsening the interface between the two photon filters 111and 171. The coarsened interface 165 is arranged to prevent totalinternal reflection and reflection in general by the photon filter 171.This is because in a coarsened interface the photons cannot escape theinterface with a single reflection at an angle of total internalreflection, instead they will meet the photon filter 171 at an incidenceangle somewhere in the coarse interface that will typically allowtransmission.

Quite clearly the antireflective coating 160 and/or antireflectiveinterface 165 of FIG. 2B can be used to substitute the spatiospectrallymodulating optical filter arrangements (120, 130, 140) of FIG. 2A insome embodiments of the invention.

Quite clearly the tandem solar cell of the invention may feature anynumber of solar cells with any number of filter arrangements and anytype of filter arrangements which may include antireflective coating160, antireflective interface 165, suitably selected refractive indicesn_(to), n_(from) and/or spatiospectral modulation in any combinationand/or permutation in accordance with the invention. It should be notedthat any interface can be coarsened in accordance with the invention toincrease antireflection properties, for example the interface arrangedto filter photons based on selected refractive indices as explainedbefore can also be coarsened in accordance with the invention.

For clarity, it should be noted that the tandem solar cell has thedepletion region interface in parallel to incident sunlight in FIGS. 2A,2B, 2C and 2D. Quite clearly the depletion region interface may also beperpendicular or in fact in any angle to the incident sunlight, as themain point is to get the photons into the photoelectrically active firstsolar cell 200 in accordance with the invention. In some embodiments ofthe invention the depletion region interface between the p-region andthe n-region is arranged perpendicular to incident sunlight, but anypositioning is possible in accordance with the invention. The electricalcontacts that collect the generated photocurrent are shown in FIG. 2B asfront contact 250 and rear contact 251, but clearly they can bepositioned to accommodate different configurations in accordance withthe invention. The electrical contacts are typically hidden to minimiseshading losses, for example by Angled Buried Contacts, as is shown forthe front contact 250, where the contact is actually at an angle buriedunder the surface, and thereby does not cause a shade on the incidentradiation. Even the buried contact should be made reflective to photonsin accordance with the invention. Similarly any optical concentrators,lenses or the like can be used to focus sunlight, or light from othersources, to the solar cell of the invention, and in particular to theincidence side of the first solar cell 200 in accordance with theinvention of which just one example is shown in FIG. 2C.

It should be noted that the embodiment 21 can be freely combined andpermuted with embodiments 10, 20, 22, 23, 30, 40 and/or 50 earlier andlater in the text in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2C shows the embodiment 22 with the focusing means 190 and theentrapping reflectors 180, 181 on the sunlight incident side. Thephotons are typically focused to the depletion region, and there may bea dispersing reflector 195 at the bottom of the first solar cell layer200, to ensure the reflected photons do not reflect out of the solarcell through the aperture they came in from.

FIG. 2C also shows a single unidirectional filter 100 between the saidsolar cell layers 200, 201, which is a useful embodiment of theinvention.

It should be noted that the embodiment 22 can be freely combined andpermuted with embodiments 10, 21, 23, 30, 40 and/or 50 earlier and laterin the text in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2D shows the simplest embodiment of the invention 23, which howeverplaces the hardest criteria on the materials chosen. In this embodiment,the filter 100 is realised purely by the interface 100 between the twosolar cell layers 200, 201, which have their band gaps and refractiveindices selected as describer earlier.

It should be noted that the embodiment 23 can be freely combined andpermuted with embodiments 10, 21, 22, 30, 40 and/or 50 earlier and laterin the text in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 3 demonstrates an embodiment of the invention where there are foursolar cell layers 200, 201, 202, and 203 and three or four photonfilters 100, 101, 102 and 103. It should be realised that one of the keyinventive concepts of the invention is to get each solar cell layer towork at the band where they have high quantum efficiency (QE) with asmany photons of that said energy band as possible, and move photons notat that energy band to another solar cell layer that has a better QE atthe energy band of these moved photons. Therefore the QE-wavelengthprofile of a solar cell layer is of significance to how many solar celllayers are implemented in the design. Typically for semiconductorjunctions, the narrower the band is around the optimum energy, thehigher the quantum efficiency. When the incoming band comprises photonswith an energy that is only slightly larger than the band gap, nearlyall energy in the photons will be photoelectrically converted leading tohigh efficiencies.

In one embodiment of the invention 30 the tandem solar cell comprisesseveral solar cell layers 200, 201, 202, 203, and in between two solarcell layers there is a photon filter, 100, 101, 102. The photon filtersare tuned so, that they will trap only those photons that are at anenergy where the solar cell layer is working at a good quantumefficiency (QE), ideally close to 1. The rest of the photons are simplypassed to the next layer by the photon filter. The solar cell layers200, 201, 202 are preferably very thin, or otherwise designed so thatthere is minimal interaction between the solar cell and the photonpopulation at energies where the quantum efficiency is NOT that good,i.e. far from unity. In some embodiments the last solar cell layer, i.e.203 in this case, can be thick. It may also have a reflective mirror onthe side opposite to the incident side of sunlight, or a photon filter103 that may be designed to let heat photons out, but trap those photonswith photovoltaic band gap absorption potential, i.e. energy enough tobe absorbed.

In one preferable embodiment of the invention the first solar cell layer200 is a GaN layer with a band gap of 3.4 eV (electron volt). The secondsolar cell layer 201 is an InGaP layer with a band gap of 1.93 eV insome embodiments of the invention. The third solar cell layer 202 is apolycrystalline silicon layer, with a band gap at 1.1 eV in someembodiments of the invention. In some further embodiments of theinvention the last solar cell layer 203 is an InSb layer with a band gapof 0.17 eV. What could be the cut-off wavelengths λ_(x)s ? In the layer200 photons with less than 3.4 eV are useless, as they cannot beabsorbed into photocurrent. Therefore the λ_(x100) should be equivalentto 3.4 eV or similar, i.e. 365 nm, i.e. a UV-mirror that would letphotons longer than 365 nm (nm=nanometers) pass through. Consequently,the second InGaP solar cell layer 201 at 1.93 eV would require theλ_(x101) to be equivalent to 1.93 eV or similar, i.e. 643 nm, i.e. avisible light-mirror that would let photons longer than 643 nm passthrough. The third polymorphic silicon solar cell layer 202 at 1.1 eVwould require 1128 nm for the λ_(x102), i.e. a red-IR mirror. Thephotons longer than 1128 nm or similar threshold would be passed to thefourth layer 203 with an InSb band gap of 0.17 eV→7301 nm. In someembodiments of the invention this last layer 203 would be made thick,because all the remaining photons should interact in this layer 203.

In some embodiments of the invention it is preferable to make the solarcell system thin. In some embodiments of the invention the thickness ofeach solar cell layer is a reasonable multiplier of the wavelength thatequates with the band gap, to ensure particle nature of the photons inthe solar cell layers. For example if the multiplier were 10, solar celllayers 200, 201, 202 and 203 would have thicknesses of 3650 nm, 6430 nm,11280 nm and 73010 nm respectively. The one quarter wavelengthantireflective coatings would have thicknesses of roughly 91.25 nm,160.75 nm, 282 nm, 1825 nm, respectively in preferred embodiments of theinvention. Assuming the filters have comparative thicknesses thestructure would be about one millimetre thick in accordance with thisembodiment of the invention. Naturally these parameters can be tuned inaccordance with the invention. Clearly the four layer tandem solar cellis a preferable embodiment, because it samples both the solar spectrumand the resultant secondary spectrum (emerging spectrum after the firstsolar cell layer), tertiary spectrum (emerging spectrum after the secondsolar cell layer) and quaternary spectrum (emerging spectrum after thethird solar cell layer) so well.

It should be noted that the embodiment 30 can be freely combined andpermuted with embodiments 10, 20, 21, 22, 23, 40 and/or 50 earlier andlater in the text in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 4 displays an exemplary embodiment of the invention in energyspace—i.e. spectral space. The incident solar spectrum 300 runs from 200nm in the UV to roughly 2400 nm, the spectrum 300 is a AM 1.5 G 1000W/m² solar spectrum typically encountered on Earth. The first solar celllayer 200 has a solar cell response that is slightly lower in energythan the GaN and slightly higher in energy than the InGaP. It has areasonably high QE in between 365-645 nm, i.e. blue light, as shown inthe QE plot that is superposed underneath the spectrum 300. Because thesolar cell response practically coincides with the big bump of strongintensity in the incident spectrum 300, the photocurrent power spectrumthat shows spectral distribution of collected photocurrent powerspectrum 400 and therefore energy and power generated by the first solarcell layer 200 is quite similar in shape to the response of the firstsolar cell layer 200. However the photon spectrum 401 will be quitemodified when it reaches the first photon filter 100. The photon filter100 will spatiospectrally modulate the photon spectrum 401 in someembodiments of the invention, or use another unidirectional filter asexplained before. The photon filter 100 will preferably reflect the λ₂photons with higher energies and shorter wavelengths, i.e. the photonswith a shorter wavelength of λ_(x100) that should correspond to theenergy band gap of the solar cell layer 200 in accordance with theinvention. The λ₁ photons will be passed to the second solar cell layer201 by the focusing means or other spatial modulation means, resultinginto the spatial component of the modulation, or by anotherunidirectional filter, and this layer will again have a differentcut-off frequency λ_(x101) in accordance with the invention in someembodiments.

The solar cell response 201 converts the photocurrent from this photonpopulation. The photon filter 101 will reflect λ₄ photons back to thesolar cell layer 201, and the reflector that does this resides on theside facing in the same direction as the sunlight incident side. Thephoton filter 100 will have a reflector 150 around the small apertures140 that released the λ₁ photons into the second layer 201, or anotherreflecting filter 170 or interface on the solar incident side facing thesecond solar cell layer as explained before. This reflector will reflectλ₅ photons back again from the side opposite to the sunlight incidentside of photon filter 100, resulting in photon entrapment between photonfilters 100, 101, for photons that can interact with the band gap of thesecond solar cell layer. Even though the photon filters would beunidirectional, it is probable under practical conditions that theycannot achieve a completely ideal unidirectional filtration result: withspatiospectral modulation small photon leakage will occur through theimprobable incidence of returning photons to apertures, in refractiveindex structures some stray angle photons may remain, at which incidenceangle a small group of photons might be able to violateunidirectionality even when they are at an energy where they should beentrapped to the solar cell layer that they are currently at.

The remaining low energy photons λ₃ are passed onto a third solar celllayer 202 in accordance with the invention in some embodiments, or theyare simply released out of the tandem solar cell or left in the latticein some embodiments of the invention.

It should be noted that the embodiment 40 can be freely combined andpermuted with embodiments 10, 20, 21, 22, 23, 30 and/or 50 earlier andlater in the text in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the operation of the inventive method anddevice as a flow diagram 50. We start to observe the situation after thephotons have entered the first solar cell layer 200. Once in the firstsolar cell layer 200 the photon population traverses through it, withsome photons getting absorbed and exciting photocurrent in this solarcell layer. After the photons have traversed through the first solarcell layer 200 that is preferably quite thin, they reach the photonfilter 100 in phase 600 where the photons with wavelength shorter thanλ_(X100) are reflected back to the first solar cell layer 200. Theincident and the reflected photons produce the photopower of solar cell200.

In phase 610 the photons with wavelength longer than λ_(X100) arefocused by the at least one lens 120. The lenses can be of any shape andany material in accordance with the invention, but they can also bereplaced by any other focusing means, or in fact by any means capable ofsplitting the photon populations in the desired way, for example by aunidirectional filter. The whole point about focusing the photons passedthrough is to perform the spatial aspect of the modulation in order toachieve enough reflective surface to the other wall of the photon filter100 facing the second solar cell layer 201. It is in accordance with theinvention to deploy other equivalent means to focusing and spatialmodulation in some embodiments. For example and alternatively photonswith wavelength longer than λ_(X100) may pass to an antireflectivecoating or coarse interface as explained in FIG. 2B in some embodiments,or they may pass to an interface with refractive indices adjusted toensure photon selection and entrapment as shown in FIG. 2D and explainedbefore or to a unidirectional filter 100 as shown in FIG. 2C andexplained before.

In phase 620 photons with wavelength longer than λ_(X100) enter thesolar cell 201 through at least one aperture 140, which are typicallyvery small in order to maximise the reflective area 150 of the otherwall of the photon filter 100 facing the second solar cell layer 201.Some of these incident photons now generate photopower from second solarcell layer 201. In phase 630 the photons with wavelength shorter thanλ_(X101) are reflected by the photon filter 101. These photons are thussimply reflected back to the second solar cell layer 201. Some of thesereflected photons are absorbed and produce photopower of solar cell 201.

Some of the reflected photons pass through the second solar cell layer201 again, without having been absorbed. Provided their wavelength isshorter than λ_(X101) these photons are reflected again, this time bythe reflector 150 of photon filter 100. In some embodiments of theinvention the reflector 150 of the photon filter on the wall facing thesecond solar cell layer 201 is designed to simply reflect back all thephotons or as many photons as possible on as wide a band as possible inaccordance with the invention. In phase 630 there will now be a photonpopulation bouncing back and forth between the photon filters 100, 101in accordance with the invention. This photon entrapment gives severalopportunities for the photons to get absorbed into the second solar celllayer 201. In phase 640 the photons that no longer have a chance ofbeing converted to photocurrent, are focused by the lens 121 or otherfocusing means. It makes sense to adjust the cut off λ_(X101) so that itreflects back all those photons that do have a chance of gettingabsorbed in the second solar cell layer 201, but naturally λ_(X101) canbe selected otherwise in accordance with the invention, based on otherdesign criteria for example.

In phase 650 the photons with wavelength longer than λ_(X101) enter thesolar cell 202 preferably from small apertures 141 in the wall of thephoton filter 101 facing the third solar cell layer 202. The processrepeats in the third solar cell layer 202 with the same aforementionedprinciple albeit at longer wavelengths to generate the photopower of thesolar cell 202.

It should be noted that the embodiment 50 can be freely combined andpermuted with embodiments 10, 20, 21, 22, 23, 30 and/or 40 earlier inthe text in accordance with the invention.

The operation of the method 50 was explained with spatiospectralmodulation providing the unidirectional filtering of photons. It is inaccordance with the invention to use the other unidirectional photonfilters described earlier to realise the operation of the embodiment 50mutatis mutandis.

It should also be noted that in all or some embodiments in addition tointer band gap semiconductors, also intra band gap semiconductorjunctions, such as quantum cascade semiconductor junctions can be usedto achieve the desired photoelectric properties for a particular solarcell layer in accordance with the invention. It should also furthermorebe noted that the solar cells of the invention need not be necessarilysquare or flat, indeed they can be realised in any shape, for examplespherical shape in some embodiments, as described in FI20070743Thermodynamically shielded solar cell & counterparts or otherwise.Furthermore it should be stressed that in some embodiments of theinvention the solar cell or tandem solar cell systems of the inventioncan be realised in any size, from nanometer scale structures to largestructures. From power plant size installations to power solutions ofvery small portable devices, the solar cells and the photon filtrationsystems find use in many markets in accordance with the invention.

It should also be noted that the invention has been described here sothat the highest band gap solar cell and the highest band pass filter isthe first incident to the sunlight. It should be noted that theinvention can also be implemented in the reverse order, i.e. having thesmaller energy solar cell layers and filters first in some embodiments.Indeed the band gaps of the solar cell layers may be in any order insome embodiments of the invention, the main point is that these solarcell layers work with photons that are at an energy at which the solarcell layer has a good QE, and DO NOT work with photons that are at anenergy where the QE is poor.

However, the highest band gap material first and the conduction of thefiltering and band gaps in an order of high-to-low when moving from theincident sunlight side to the back of the tandem solar cell ispreferable in some embodiments of the invention, because this producesthe smallest number of photoelectric absorptions per the firstphotoelectric unit of energy generated. In layman terms, the biggerenergy photons absorbing themselves first create more energy in a lessernumber of absorptions, because the absorptions are of higher energy.This leads to smaller number of second order photons and phononsgenerated, and we do want to avoid small energy photons, especially iftheir energy is so small that we are pushed to find a small enough bandgap in the consecutive solar cell layers. However, when starting fromthe low band gap material first, a huge number of absorptions can occur,but at a low unit energy per absorption. The higher energy photons willin this case be producing a lot of secondary photons, and the spectrumwill “cool”, i.e. move to lower E photons considerably faster. Oncethese photons start to approach energies we can no longer photoelectrically collect, they begin to be parasitic and thus not preferred.

It should be noted that the embodiments described here can be used inany combination or permutation with any of the embodiments described inthe other patent applications of the inventor FI20070264 An active solarcell and method of manufacture, FI20070743 Thermodynamically shieldedsolar cell, FI20070801 Method and means for designing a solar cell andEP 09154530.1 Low cost solar cell and/or their internationalcounterparts which are now explicitly incorporated into thisapplication.

For example the use of the bias voltage as described in FI20070264 ispreferable in especially the lower solar cell layers in some embodimentsof the invention to achieve photoelectric conversion at very low bandgaps. For example the optical concentration and convective, conductiveand/or radiative shielding solutions of FI20070743 can be implemented ina very useful way to ensure high photon fluxes in accordance with theinvention in some embodiments. Likewise the software design method ofFI20070801 can be used to design some of the tandem cells in accordancewith the invention. Some of the cost reducing embodiments of EP09154530.1, or other embodiments, can be combined with the embodimentsof the present invention. Many useful embodiments can thus be derivedfrom combining the embodiments of these five patent applications fromthe same inventor that are all directed to the same theme: providing aphotoelectric solution to the global energy problem.

It should be noted that the electrodes collecting photocurrent from theaforementioned solar cell layers may be arranged in any configuration inaccordance with the invention. Furthermore the position and/or angle ofthe p-n junction to the incident solar flux or artificial light may bearranged to any position and/or angle and the system of the inventioncan be implemented in any geometry.

It is currently not known, which are all the factors that cause ashortcoming in the efficiency of the solar cell. However, based on thestudies of the applicant, the general tandem solar cell is hampered themost by the photon-phonon processes that take place outside the band ofmaximum quantum efficiency of the solar cell. The inventive conceptpresented in this application, i.e. the filtering of the photonpopulation so that all layers of a tandem solar cell work at theiroptimum quantum efficiencies (QEs) will greatly improve the efficiencyof and power generated by solar cells. The unidirectionality of theinventive photon filters realises this advantage as the leakage ofunwanted photons back to earlier solar cell layers is minimised.

The aforementioned invention has a multitude of practical use scenarios.The solar cells of the invention can be installed to a power plant forpower generation to the grid. The inventions can be installed on anybuilding to provide electricity for air conditioning and householdappliances, or the like in that building or elsewhere. The inventivesolar cells can be installed on a vehicle, to power the vehicle motorelectrically, charge the battery, or power electric appliances for thevehicle. However, as the inventive solar cells have a reasonably highcost of design and manufacture at first, the most advantageousapplication is probably in the field of portable electronic devices.Laptop computers, mobile phones, electric shavers, epilators, electrictoothbrushes, calculators, music players such as MP3 players (e.g.ipod), palm computers, TV's, radios, screens, monitors, printers, flashmemory drives, external hard disk drives, watches and/or any other kindof electric equipment that now needs a charger can be installed with thesolar cells of the invention. As the solar cells of the invention arevery efficient producing high power per unit area, the solar cells cankeep the battery of the device charged pretty much all the time, withoutincreasing the dimensions of the portable device. A further notableadvantage of the invention is that it converts electric power veryefficiently from artificial light also. In one advantageous embodimentat least one solar cell layer of the tandem solar cell is chosenarranged so that it has a band gap and a spectral response that convertselectricity efficiently from photons emitted by indoor lights, such asfluorescent lights, LEDs (light emitting diodes) or light bulbs. Thesolar cell layers of the invention can also be arranged to work well inboth indoor and outdoor solar light, by choosing the solar cell layermaterials with the appropriate spectral responses and band gaps inaccordance with the invention.

Quite clearly the solar cells of the invention can be camouflaged toaesthetically fit any product or building. Also, quite clearly the solarcells of the invention can be coupled with other power generationmechanism, such as kinetic power generation by piezoelectric crystals orthe like to increase the battery time of the portable electronic device,or even to get rid of the need for a grid charger in some embodiments ofthe invention.

In fact a power system including both a solar cell arranged to generatepower by photoelectric conversion (from sunlight and indoor lights) anda piezoelectric crystal arranged to generate power from its mechanicalmovement (for example by the person using and carrying the power system)is in itself an invention. It could be used to realise new devices withconsiderably longer battery times, or new portable devices even withoutthe restriction of grid charging. The combination of a mechanical andphotovoltaic power source is especially preferable because thephotovoltaic power generation works when the portable device is exposedto light, and the piezoelectric and/or other mechanical power generationsystem based on e.g. (pendulum and/or springs found in watches) workstypically when the portable electronic device is concealed in the pocketof the user, i.e. being moved in the dark. This way the inventive systemis charging the portable electronic device nearly all the time.Especially in one embodiment the combined power system of a mechanicalpower generator and a solar cell will feature a solar cell with a bandgap at an energy associated with photons emitted from fluorescent lightsor other indoor lightning systems, typically at a wavelength of 400-500nm.

The inventive tandem solar cell would suit the above mentioned powersolution for a portable device perfectly, as it can cope with a varietyof incoming light spectra, such as indoor light spectra in someembodiments.

The invention has been explained above with reference to theaforementioned embodiments and several commercial and industrialadvantages have been demonstrated. The methods and arrangements of theinvention allow the construction of a solar cell where a high number ofvery thin solar cell layers each work at nearly 100% quantum efficiency,because the inventive photon filters restrict the photon population tothe most efficient bands of the solar cell layers, and therefore apractically ideal solar cell delivering power close to the solarconstant 1.37 kW/m² in space and roughly 1 kW/m² on Earth is madepossible by the invention.

The invention has been explained above with reference to theaforementioned embodiments. However, it is clear that the invention isnot only restricted to these embodiments, but comprises all possibleembodiments within the scope of the invention and the following patentclaims.

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1. A tandem solar cell, comprising at least two layers of solar cells,the first (200) and the second (201) layer, a first photon filter (100)is arranged in between the first solar cell layer (200) and the secondsolar cell layer (201), the first solar cell layer (200) is arrangedwith the photon filter (100) on the side opposite to the incident sideof sunlight, the photon filter (100) is arranged to reflect photons ofcertain energy (λ₂) back into the first solar cell layer (200), thephoton filter (100) is arranged to be transparent to photons of otherenergies (λ₁) not arranged to be reflected, and these photons arearranged to enter the second solar cell layer (201), characterised inthat, photon filter (100) is arranged to reflect photons withwavelengths shorter than λ₂ from its first side (110, 111) and arrangedto be transparent to photons of wavelengths longer than λ₂ by focussing(120, 121) the said longer wavelength photons out of small areaapertures (140, 141) on the other side opposite to the first side (150,151) of the photon filter (100, 101) and the other side of the photonfilter (100, 101) is arranged to reflect (150, 151) at least some of thesaid photons of wavelength longer than λ₂.
 2. A tandem solar cell asclaimed in claim 1, characterised in that, the said certain energies(λ₂) are energies where the first solar cell layer (200) has higherquantum efficiency (QE) than the second solar cell layer (201), and/orthe said other energies (λ₁) are energies where the second solar celllayer (201) has higher quantum efficiency (QE) than the first solar celllayer (200).
 3. A tandem solar cell as claimed in claim 1, characterisedin that, the second solar cell (201) is arranged with a photon reflectoron the side opposite to the incident side of sunlight (111) and on thesunlight incident side (150).
 4. A tandem solar cell as claimed in claim1, characterised in that, the photon filter (100, 101) is arranged tofocus (120, 121) the said photons of other energies, and the saidphotons enter through small apertures (140, 141) from the photon filter(100, 101) side opposite to the incident side of sunlight (150, 151). 5.A tandem solar cell as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that, thephoton filter (100, 101, 102, 103) is a dielectric stack and/or Rugatefilter and/or a combination of both filters.
 6. A tandem solar cell asclaimed in claim 1, characterised in that, the second solar cell layer(201) is arranged with a second photon filter (101) on the side oppositeto the incident side of sunlight.
 7. A tandem solar cell as claimed inclaim 6, characterised in that, the second photon filter (101) isarranged to reflect photons back into the second solar cell (201) withenergies that are energies where the second solar cell layer (201) has ahigh quantum efficiency, the first photon filter (100) is also arrangedto reflect photons back into the second solar cell layer (201) withenergies that are energies where the second solar cell layer (201) has ahigh quantum efficiency with a photon reflector (150) that is on theside opposite to the incident side of sunlight in the first photonfilter (100), the photon filters (100, 101) are arranged to entrapphotons into the second solar cell layer (201) that are at energieswhere the second solar cell layer (201) has a high quantum efficiency(QE).
 8. A tandem solar cell as claimed in claim 6, characterised inthat, the second photon filter (101) is arranged to be transparent tophotons that are not at energies where the second solar cell (201) has ahigh quantum efficiency (QE), the said transparent photons are arrangedto enter a third solar cell (202).
 9. A method of producing the solarcell of claim
 1. 10. A tandem solar cell, comprising at least two solarcell layers, characterised in that, the said tandem solar (20, 30) cellis arranged to transport an incoming photon to a solar cell layer (200,201, 202, 203) that has the highest quantum efficiency (QE) at theenergy of the said incoming photon in comparison to the other said solarcell layers in the tandem solar cell.
 11. A tandem solar cell as claimedin claim 6, characterised in that, the said transported photons arearranged to be trapped into the said solar cell layer (200, 201, 202,203) with the best quantum efficiency (QE).
 12. A tandem solar cell,comprising at least two layers of solar cells, the first (200) and thesecond (201) layer, characterised in that, a first photon filter (110)is arranged in between the first solar cell layer (200) and the secondsolar cell layer (201), an antireflection layer (160, 165) is arrangedbetween the said first photon filter (110) and the second solar celllayer (201), a second photon filter (170) is arranged between the saidantireflection coating (160) and the second solar cell layer (201). 13.A tandem solar cell as claimed in claim 12, characterised in that, theantireflection layer (160, 165) is established by coarsening thesurfaces in the interface between the first photon filter (110) and thesecond photon filter (170).
 14. A tandem solar cell as claimed in claim12, characterised in that, the antireflection layer (160) is establishedwith a quarter wavelength antireflection layer.
 15. A tandem solar cellas claimed in claim 12, characterised in that, photons are arranged tobe trapped into the solar cell layer with the best relative quantumefficiency (QE).
 16. A tandem solar cell comprising at least two layersof solar cells, the first solar cell layer (200) and the second solarcell layer (201), characterised in that, at least one unidirectionalphoton filter (100) is arranged between the said first (200) and thesecond (201) solar cell layers.
 17. A tandem solar cell as claimed inclaim 16, characterised in that, photons are arranged to be trapped intothe solar cell layer (200, 201, 202, 203) with the best relative quantumefficiency (QE).
 18. A tandem solar cell comprising at least two layersof solar cells, the first solar cell layer (200) with a band gap energyof E_(bg) and the second solar cell layer (201), characterised in that,the second solar cell (201) has a lower refractive index than the firstsolar cell layer (200) at photon energies equal or higher than E_(bg).19. A tandem solar cell as claimed in claim 18, characterised in that,the second solar cell (201) has a higher refractive index than the firstsolar cell layer (200) at photon energies lower than E_(bg).
 20. Atandem solar cell comprising at least two layers of solar cells, thefirst solar cell layer (200) and the second solar cell layer (201),characterised in that, at least one solar cell layer (200, 201) isarranged to have its quantum efficiency (QE) vs. wavelength function andits refractive index vs. wavelength functions to reach peak and/or highvalues at the same wavelengths.
 21. A portable electronic devicecomprising at least one solar cell, characterised in that, said portableelectronic device features at least one piezoelectric crystal and/or atleast one mechanical means arranged to generate electricity frommechanical movement of said portable electronic device.
 22. A portableelectronic device comprising at least one solar cell, said portableelectronic device comprising at least one piezoelectric crystal and/orat least one mechanical means arranged to generate electricity frommechanical movement of said portable electronic device, characterised inthat, the said solar cell is a tandem solar cell as claimed in claim 1.